sport
Being ready to play the Games By Tim Gavel
I HAVE been approached three times over the past 22 years by people interested in putting together a Canberra bid for the Commonwealth Games, but I just can’t see it happening in the short term. However, it will work if there is significant Australian Government funding because the simple fact is that we don’t have the facilities to stage an event that has 17 different sports. Apart from hockey, road cycling, triathlon, netball and the marathons we would fall well short of what is required. We need a swimming pool with decent spectator facilities, a diving pool, a 50,000 seat stadium that caters for track and field, a velodrome, and that is just a start on the sporting facility front. Then there is the lack of accommodation and transport infrastructure. But the one aspect in which Canberra has the edge on other cities is the ability to mobilise people both as officials and volunteers capable of organising major sporting events. This interest in thinking about staging this multi-sport event comes with the Games in New Delhi being well and truly in the news. The Gold Coast has lodged a bid for the 2018 Games and, if successful, would effectively make it hard for Canberra to even consider putting together a bid for another 20 years. It appears that staging the Games in two places in the one country without a considerable break in years is not the done thing. The Commonwealth Games could be seen as appropriate to Canberra as the event becomes overshadowed by World Championships, World Cups, not to mention the Olympics. The more it becomes less attractive to larger cities, the better for Canberra. To a certain extent it is heading that way, apart from Melbourne and New Delhi. The 1992 Games were staged in Victoria, Canada, with a population of 78,000 while the 2002 Games took place in Manchester, which has a population of around 480,000. The next Games will be staged in Glasgow in 2014 with a population of around 600,000.The Gold Coast has a population of just over half a million. This gives an indication that the Games don’t necessarily prefer the biggest cities in the Commonwealth. This gives us some hope. But if we are to serious about staging such an event, we have to take notice of what the Gold Coast has been doing in terms of developing sporting facilities. We need to realise the benefits of building sporting infrastructure instead of presenting barriers, as has become the norm. I am not saying we have to start a massive infrastructure campaign, but we need to have a forward-thinking approach. Otherwise, in 20 years time, if the opportunity presents itself again we will still be playing catch up.
CityNews October 7-13
The sun lifts into the spring morning’s sky and snapper SILAS BROWN, drifting across Civic in a hot-air balloon, looks down at the almost deserted London Circuit and Northbourne Avenue into the distance and captures this wonderful perspective of our special city.
Pack attack isn’t ignorance THEY hunt in packs. Combine this with limited media ownership and the dangers of so many united journalists baying for the kill become obvious. It seems the bulk of reporters are busting for another election. This would not be surprising from the Murdoch tribe that blatantly ran a pro-Abbott campaign for the election and then snapped at the independents to favour the Coalition. Of course, they were sorely disappointed with the elevation of Julia Gillard, but it is as though they had personally lost the election. Sadly, many other elements of the media are herded into the same spin. When the Gillard Government lost a minor vote on a simple procedural matter, most of the media would have us believing that it would be back to the polls. It has to be deliberate. Surely, it is cannot be ignorance. All jurisdictions in Australia have had minority governments in the last two decades that have lasted a full term with stable government. They all dealt with parliamentary reforms, legislative compromises, electoral
politics
Michael Moore changes and successful opposition initiated legislation. Although Tasmania has had a number of minority governments, the first of the modern political era was characterised by failed and unsustainable Labor-Green “The Accord” which lasted about 18 months. After a term of conservative majority government they formed a successful, loose alliance. In the ACT, there has only been one majority government since the inauguration of self-government in 1989. In fact, it was the term of majority government that saw tightened controls on parliamentary processes, more restrictive practices with the Assembly Committees and was less responsive to the community. The media does not dwell on a motion, legislation or a vote that goes against the government in the ACT because it is so common. It is the same in SA and has been the case in NSW, Victoria and Queensland when they also had minority governments. It will shortly be the same federally. The Leader of the Opposition controlled himself through the election campaign, but lurking underneath the facade was always
the real Tony Abbott. He is a political headkicker. Now with the election behind him, he is in his element. His campaign questions about who was the “real Julia Gillard” now appear as his own psychological projection. At the time he put the proposition “the public expect from me a level of concern, of magnanimity, and of vision and breadth, if you like, that, I suppose, they have not previously sought” and later “a kinder, gentler polity”. Now the real Tony Abbott stands up. The pack of media is reinforcing this appalling behaviour. With minority government there is so much opportunity for the Opposition to work in the best interest of the community rather than what is best for Tony Abbott. He has the opportunity to apply an intelligent and constructive approach rather than continue with the destructive opposition for opposition’s sake. It is time for the media pack to rise to the challenge put by President Obama in “Rolling Stone” magazine. He likened some of the Murdoch media to the actions of William Randolph Hearst as they use their power “to intentionally promote their viewpoints”. Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health in the Carnell government.